


Bumblebee-Sitting

by PixeledPurple



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Prime
Genre: Baby!Bumblebee, Fluff, Gen, Transformer Sparklings, cuteness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-28
Updated: 2016-02-28
Packaged: 2018-05-16 19:21:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5837857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PixeledPurple/pseuds/PixeledPurple
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Knock Out uses a relic he was sent to retrieve on Bumblebee, and accidentally turns him into a sparkling.  Now the question is, what is Knock Out supposed to do with a baby Bumblebee?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Don't judge me. I like my cuteness.
> 
> And yes I did borrow the title from RID's Adventure's in Bumblebee-Sitting. This is nothing like that tho.

Bumblebee accelerated as he spotted a flash of red up ahead, Knock Out. He thought about comming Ratchet, but he needed to be sure there was actually a relic here. Four signals had popped up at once, indicating the presence of four new relics. But when Ratchet had analyzed the signals, he had found them to be identical, clones. Only one was actually real, the other three were echos, designed to throw them off the trail of the real relic.

They had split up, Optimus, Arcee, Bulkhead, and himself all going after one of the signals. Ratchet had stayed behind to work the groundbridge. If Knock Out was here, there was a good chance that his signal had been the real one. But he had to be sure.

Bumblebee slammed on his breaks and leapt in the air as he initiated his transformation sequence, landing just a few meters away from the Decepticon medic.

"Well, look who finally showed up," Knock Out said, turning around to face Bumblebee. In his hand was a staff with a large round disk at the end.

The relic! Bee activated his comm to signal Ratchet, but was met with only static.

"Trying to call for help? That's not going to work, scout," Knock Out said, holding up another device. This one, Bee recognized as a communications scrambler.

Bumblebee narrowed his optics at the Decepticon, ::I don't need help to defeat you:: he buzzed, aiming his blasters.

Knock Out barely avoided the shot, stumbling backwards. He tripped over something and landed on his aft with a grunt. He saw Bee coming towards him, blaster aimed at his helm. "Right, well, let's see what this does now, shall we?" Knock Out said as he held out the relic and fired.

A blinding flash of light forced him to shield his optics. When Knock Out looked up, he saw Bumblebee was gone. Looking around in surprise, his optics went wide, "What-" Knock Out pushed himself to his peds and cautiously walked over to where Bumblebee had been. Or, rather still was?

Except this wasn't Bumblebee, this was a sparkling. A small, yellow and black sparkling with doorwings, who happened to look exactly like Bumblebee. The tiny bot was sitting where Bumblebee had been a moment ago, staring down at his tiny hands.

"Uh... Bumblebee? Is that you?" Knock Out asked. It was obviously a stupid question, but Knock Out had never heard of a device that could turn grown bots back into sparklings.

Bumblebee looked up at him, his big blue optics wide and innocent. The scout's optics had always been terribly expressive, but now that his battle mask was gone, he couldn't have been easier to read if he had held up a sign. And the look on his faceplates was one of confusion and fear. He let out a small whirr.

Knock Out stared at him, optics wide as he tried to process what had just happened. Slowly, he shook his head. Ok, the scout might be adorable like this, but he was still the enemy. Still, what was he supposed to do? Autobot or no, he couldn't very well shoot a sparkling.

He looked at the communications scrambler that had fallen to the ground when he had been knocked down. He could call the Autobot base to come get him. He could easily groundbridge out of here with the relic by the time they arrived.

But the problem with that was, then they would come looking for a way to turn him back. And somehow, Knock Out doubted that Megatron would approve of him letting an Autobot that had been turned into a helpless sparkling escape.

Turning him over to Megatron also wasn't an option. He wanted to think that not even Megatron would resort to harming a sparkling, but the dark energon had made his lord more than a little... well, crazy, as of late.

"Well this is a fine predicament," Knock Out said aloud, twirling the sparkling maker (was that a good name for it?) in his hand. "What am I supposed to do with you now?"

Bumblebee let out a series of beeps as he tried, and failed, to stand up, then a soft whistle as he rolled over, starting to crawl away.

Knock Out cocked his head, watching him. What was interesting, was that what he was saying didn't make any sense. To humans, the sounds Bumblebee was making probably sounded very much like his usual form of communication. But this wasn't Cybertronian binary, it was just an assortment of random sounds, something he would expect from a sparkling before they learned to properly communicate.

He walked over to where the now tiny Autobot was trying to make his escape. "Where exactly are you planning to go anyway?" he asked.

A few more beeps as Bumblebee continued to crawl. Then suddenly he let out a loud, high pitched whine and fell back on his aft.

Knock Out out startled, looking down. A few drops of energon dotted the ground, and Bumblebee held his hand, coolant starting to well up in his optics. Knock Out crouched down, "What happened?" he asked, reaching for Bumblebee's hand. Bee tried to tug it away from him, but he wasn't nearly strong enough at his current age.

"Calm down now, I'm not gonna hurt you. I am a medic after all," he said, trying to reassure the sparkling. It was really a tiny cut on his hand, something an adult Cybertronian would hardly notice. He had seen Bumblebee have a thousand times worse and not flinch. But sparklings were much more sensitive than fully developed Cybertronians, and their frames certainly weren't used to the kind of abuse that came standard in a four million year war.

Bumblebee was beeping quietly, still trying to tug his hand away. Knock Out sighed, "Come on, we need to get that fixed, sparklings can't heal on their own. Then I can decide what to do with you," he added, subspacing the sparkling maker and reaching out to pick up Bumblebee.

Bumblebee buzzed loudly, trying to get away, but Knock Out held him firmly as he went over and picked up the communications scrambler. He deactivated it then opened a channel to the Nemesis, "Soundwave, I need a groundbridge, directly to medbay."

It was only a second later that the swirling green vortex opened in front of him. Bumblebee redoubled his efforts to try to escape Knock Out's grasp, but Knock Out held him firmly and headed through the groundbridge.

A moment later he looked around the medbay as the green glow vanished behind him. Knock Out wasn't exactly set up to deal with sparklings. Especially ones that seemed this intent on getting away from him. It seemed that whatever had happened to Bumblebee, he was still very much aware that Knock Out was the enemy, and that at this moment, he was trapped on the enemy vessel.

Knock Out decided to use this to his advantage. He sat the sparkling down on one of the medical berths, holding him in place as he bent down to his optic level. "Look, scout, I'm not going to hurt you, not when you're... like this, ok? But I can't say the same for the other 'Cons. We're on a ship. Even if you make it to the front door, that first step is a doozy. And you're not nearly tall enough to access any control panels that would open a groundbridge. You're stuck here."

Knock Out frowned, watching the sparkling. The poor thing was terrified, coolant was running from his optics and his doorwings where drooped as low as they would go. Whatever that device had done, clearly it had reverted Bumblebee to a sparkling mentally, as well as physically. "You can't understand a word I'm saying, can you?" he asked bleakly.

He glanced down at Bumblebee's hand which was still leaking energon, and was about to pull over his medical supplies when his comm sprang to life, and Megatron's voice roared over the channel.

"Knock Out! Where is my relic?!"

"Scrap," Knock Out winced. "Sorry, Lord Megatron. I was just... examining it," he said lamely over the comm.

"Bring it to me NOW!"

"Right, on my way," he said, staring at the tiny yellow bot. He sighed, "Sorry to have to do this, Bee, but I can't have you wandering around." He picked up Bumblebee, who promptly resumed his squirming to try to get away, and carried him over to some supply crates. He pulled out the contents of one with one hand, and placed Bumblebee inside. The sparkling gave a high, panicked squeal as he pulled the lid closed and latched it.

"Don't worry, you'll be fine," he said, pulling the sparkling maker from his subspace. He looked at it for a moment, contemplating what to do. If Megatron decided to actually use this against the Autobots... The best case scenario, was he would end up with a nursery full of sparklings who hated him. Worst case, well, he didn't want to think about worst case. He liked taking bots apart as much as anyone, but harming sparklings was just a line he was not willing to cross. Even sparklings created by some bizarre relic... or weapon, or whatever this thing was supposed to be.

Before he could think better of it, he examined it, finding the pins that attached the disk to the rod and yanked them out. The device came apart in his hands, and he quickly stashed the disk behind some of his tools before heading for the bridge.

***

"What do you mean it doesn't work?" Megatron growled at him.

"Well, to be fair, I don't know what it's supposed to do, but I tried to fire it at the scout, and nothing happened," Knock Out lied.

Megatron was holding the half of the device Knock Out had presented him with. Thankfully, he didn't seem to recognize it any more than Knock Out had. The bridge was empty, save for a few vehicons who were ignoring them, and Soundwave, who was watching silently, as always.

"I wanted to examine it before I brought it to you, in hopes of figuring out what it was meant to do, or how to fix it-"

"Are you certain you did not break it yourself, Knock Out?"

Knock Out flinched at the accusation. Megatron didn't know, did he? "N-no, of course not, my lord. I had just retrieved it from it's container when the scout arrived," he said, sticking to his story.

Megatron growled, glaring at him. "Well than," he said after a minute. "I suggest you return to that task. I want to know what this does."

It was all Knock Out could do to not let out a sigh of relief as Megatron thrust the staff back into his hands. "Yes, Lord Megatron, of course."

He bowed before turning and quickly making his way off of the bridge and back to the med bay.

As soon as he got there, Knock Out abandoned the sparkling maker on a work bench and headed for the crate in which he had left Bumblebee. As he approached, he could hear him crying softly inside. Knock Out frowned, reminding himself that this sparkling was in fact one of the enemy.

He had to remind himself again when he opened the crate, and saw Bumblebee sink back into a corner, energon from his wound now smeared over the inside of the crate and over his frame.

Knock Out carefully lifted him up and carried him to the berth. "I told you, I'm not going to hurt you," he said as he pulled the sparkling's wounded hand away from his chassis. He kept his tone soft, trying to calm the squirming bot.

He pulled out a tube of nanite gel. It was the best he had, containing pain blockers as well as the healing nanites. Carefully, he pried open Bumblebee's fingers, and started to smooth on the gel.

Bumblebee noticeably relaxed after just a few seconds, as the gel started to do it's job.

Knock Out noticed that the wound had gotten bigger, probably from Bumblebee thrashing around in the crate. He would have to weld it closed, he realized. The gel had already numbed the area, and had largely succeeded in stopping the energon leak, but it wouldn't be enough to heal the metal plating.

He let go of Bumblebee's hand and went over to his storage cabinet to find a welder small enough for the wound, keeping one optic on the scout the whole time.

Bumblebee had stopped crying, and he seemed to be somewhat less terrified since Knock Out had made the pain stop.

He finally found a welder that would work and went back to the sparkling. Bumblebee beeped softly at him as he approached.

"It's all right, I just want to fix that wound," he told him. Knock Out wasn't used to speaking like this to his patients, Decepticons didn't exactly need coddling and reassurances. "Can I see your hand?" he asked, holding out his own.

Bumblebee looked at it warily for a moment, then cautiously held out his hand.

Knock Out smiled, taking it gently, "Thank you. Now don't worry, this won't hurt a bit," he promised as he turned on the welder. He worked carefully, wanting to make sure it didn't scar.

"There! Good as new," he said after a few minutes. For good measure, he applied more of the nanite gel, just to make sure it healed properly. "Now see? That wasn't so bad, was it?" Knock Out asked, picking up the sparkling.

To his surprise, Bumblebee actually leaned into him, almost snuggling against his chassis. It took him a moment to regain his composure, and he cleared his intake, "Just, watch the finish, ok kid?" His words contradicted his actions as he held the sparkling closer, letting him settle against his frame.

Knock Out smiled as he turned to find a place for the sparkling to get a proper recharge. He froze as he spotted the mech standing in the door: Soundwave.


	2. Chapter 2

Protective instincts Knock Out didn't even know he had activated as he realized what it meant that Soundwave knew Bumblebee was here, that Bumblebee was a helpless sparkling.

Maybe he could convince Soundwave that this was just a random sparkling, not one of the Autobots.

That was ridiculous, he realized immediately. Where would he have gotten a sparkling on Earth?

He knew he couldn't beat the mech in a fight, Soundwave may look thin and fragile, but Knock Out had seen the damage he could cause in battle. "Uh, S-Soundwave, what are you doing here?" he stammered, taking a step back. Bumblebee had noticed the other Decepticon as well and was now clinging to Knock Out, trying to hide in his arms.

Soundwave didn't speak. Soundwave never spoke, of course, but at this moment, that fact was far more unnerving than usual. After a moment, an image appeared on the silent mech's visor.

Knock Out recognized the scene from earlier that day, back on Earth. He saw himself point the sparkling maker, saw the bright flash of light, then saw Bumblebee replaced by the sparkling currently whining softly as he squirmed in his arms.

Knock Out took another step back, "It's... not what it looks like."

The image on Soundwave's visor zoomed in on the sparkling maker he was holding, the disk clearly visible on the device. The image was then joined by a still of Knock Out handing the device to Megatron, sans the disk.

Knock Out felt the energon drain from his face. Sheltering the Autobot was bad enough, he could probably explain that, but out right lying to Megatron, _and_ sabotaging a relic that could very effectively be used as a weapon? He was scrapped.

"Soundwave, I didn't- You know how Megatron's been acting lately! I didn't know how he would react to- to-" he paused, looked down at the sparkling in his arms. "I draw the line at harming sparklings, Soundwave."

Soundwave hadn't moved since he had seen him, but now he started forward. Knock Out took another step back, but his legs hit the edge of the berth. He was trapped.

Ok, he though, struggling to formulate a plan. He shifted Bumblebee in his arms so he would be able to transform out saw. It wasn't much, but if he caught the other mech by surprise, he may be able to do enough damage to get away. He would figure out what to do after that later.

Soundwave stopped a small distance away, and Knock Out prepared to activate the transformation.

Slowly, Soundwave reached up one hand towards the sparkling. Knock Out hesitated. He knew the other mech was deadly, but he was hard pressed to see how this move can be hostile. He waited.

Bumblebee beeped in a panic as Soundwave touched him with one digit, it was a gentle touch, almost as if Soundwave was testing to make sure he was really there.

"Soundwave?" Knock Out asked, carefully.

A moment later, a recording of Starscream's voice came from the other mech, "Megatron doesn't need to know."

***

Soundwave seemed as concerned about how Megatron would use the sparkling maker as Knock Out had been. He had vehemently denied that Megatron would harm something so defenseless, but had agreed that while the device probably would win them the war, or at least defeat the Autobots on Earth, it would cause more problems than it solved, namely, what to do with a bunch of Autobot sparklings.

Which brought them back to Bumblebee. Enough time had passed that the other Autobots would be concerned about him by now, especially since they would have been sure to figure out that the signal that he had followed had been the real one. Still, there wasn't much they could do about it. The Nemesis was cloaked.

They where standing by the medical berth where Knock Out had put Bumblebee, discussing their options. Or rather, Knock Out was was more or less rambling about figuring out how the device works and what to tell Megatron.

Soundwave seemed to be ignoring him in favor of paying attention to Bumblebee. He had picked him up at first, but the sparkling had been so terrified that he placed him back on the berth lest he actually hurt himself.

Soundwave had continued to try to get a closer look at him though, examining his frame, and trying to get the now dried energon from his earlier injury cleaned off. Bumblebee wanted no part of this, and kept trying to crawl back to Knock Out.

He let out a particularly distressed sounding whistle when Soundwave picked him up again to bring him closer. He scrambled quickly to get away as soon as Soundwave released him.

Knock Out frowned, looking down at the sparkling, who was looking at him with those giant blue optics. He sighed, and finally picked him up, much to Bumblebee's obvious relief as the sparkling buried his faceplates in Knock Out's chassis. "Are you even listening to me Soundwave?" he demanded.

Soundwave stared at Bumblebee for a moment then brought up an image of the modified sparkling maker on his visor. Knock Out looked closer to read the accompanied text Soundwave had added.

It was a rather dry description of some Autobot custom. "'Ceremonial'?" he asked out loud as he got the gist of the text. "But-" Knock Out blinked as he realized what Soundwave had done, and immediately felt stupid for not getting it earlier. "You forged that text."

Soundwave shook his head. The sparkling maker disappeared from the screen, replaced by a rather ornate staff.

Knock Out had to give the other credit. Creating a lie about what the device was was risky, but swapping out an image in an existing entry in the ships records was brilliant. Megatron was smart, but he paid little attention to Autobot beliefs that didn't involve battle strategies. Even if he was familiar with this, he would never notice that the staff was different.

"That's actually a good idea," Knock Out said, sounding mildly surprised. "But it still doesn't answer the question of what do we do him," he added, gesturing to the yellow sparkling in his arms. Bumblebee apparently had decided that Knock Out was safe, and was nestled in comfortably against him, gazing warily at Soundwave with sleepy optics.

Soundwave pointed at Knock Out, and indicated that he needed to return to his shift. He told him that he would show Megatron the falsified data in a few hours, after he would have had time to search the database for something fitting it's description.

Knock Out would follow Megatron's orders to study the device, though instead of "fixing it" he'd to figure out exactly how it did what it did, and if it was permanent. It wouldn't do to have Bumblebee turning back into his old self on the Nemesis.

Knock Out took the tiny Bumblebee to his private quarters conveniently located just off the medbay. The sparkling had fallen into recharge into his arms, and he laid him carefully down on the berth. It was big enough that he was safe from rolling off, but he scrunched up a blanket at the edge to act as a barrier just in case. Soundwave sent Laserbeak into the room to watch over him.

***

It was a couple hours later that a message from Laserbeak flashed on his monitor; Bumblebee was awake. Knock Out couldn't help the smile that crept onto his faceplates. He hadn't gotten very far in his investigation of the device, and was quite frankly, getting bored.

When he walked into his quarters, he found Laserbeak perched in front of a pile of blanket. Knock Out tilted his head and watched as a tiny hand poked out from under the blanket and touched Laserbeak's wing. She made a noise that could only be considered a purr and fluttered closer. A happy trill came from under the blankets.

Knock Out smiled. It was the first sound he had heard from Bumblebee that wasn't of sadness or fear. The thought crossed his processor that maybe he could make this work. They could keep the scout, raise him as a Decepticon. He and Soundwave could take care of him.

Of course, the would have to figure out what to tell Megatron. Bumblebee reached out and pet Laserbeak's head. At least, Knock Out assumed that was her head. Laserbeak, in turn, seemed all to happy with the attention.

Knock Out watched the blanket move as Bumblebee's doorwings flicked up and down when he whirred happily. The motion made the blanket slip off of his head. The tiny scout jumped as he saw him, and pulled the blanket up against himself.

"Aww, come on now," Knock Out said, starting over towards the berth. "I thought we were becoming friends."

Bumblebee loosened his grip on the blanket just a little.

"I'm not going to hurt you. I fixed your hand, remember?" Knock Out sat down on the berth, far enough from the sparkling that he, hopefully, wouldn't feel threatened. "It's all right," he repeated after a few moments, waiting patiently for Bumblebee to come out from under his blanket.

After an inquiring look to Laserbeak, who gave the distinct impression of a nod, Bumblebee slowly crawled out from under the covers and towards Knock Out. He hesitated, coming just shy of the Decepticon and staring up at him. His big blue optics filled with uncertainty.

Knock Out couldn't help but smile down at him. The scout made an adorable sparkling.

Tentatively, the sparkling climbed into Knock Out's lap. Once there, he looked up at Knock Out one more time to make sure he wasn't in danger, and then snuggled up against the medic.

Knock Out felt his spark do a backflip. Bumblebee was so helpless and innocent right now, and he trusted Knock Out to not harm him, to protect him. It was an odd feeling. He couldn't remember the last time someone had come to him for protection or comfort.

There had been times with Breakdown, of course. And the though of his former partner brought on a whole different set of feelings. But even though he and Breakdown had been together for centuries, they trusted each other in the way Decepticons trusted each other, tentatively and always with a shred of doubt.

The sparkling in his lap was completely innocent. He knew nothing of betrayal, deception, or selfishness. He didn't know about the terrible things that Knock Out had done, or everything that he was capable of.

Some part of his processor at least, must have known that he was the enemy, but whether that information was so easily forgotten, or if the sparkling's trust was really that easy to gain, he didn't know. It occurred to him just how easy it would be to betray that trust, and immediately he felt sick. No, he would never do that.

He smiled down at the sparkling again when he gave a small chirp. "Come on scout, you probably need to refuel by now. Let's go find you some energon." He gathered the tiny Bumblebee into his arms, and headed out towards the medbay. Laserbeak followed silently behind them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, about Soundwave. He has Laserbeak, and it's my headcanon that he had his other cassettes too in this continuity but lost them during the war, and while they're not the same as sparklings, they're still smaller things that rely on him and he promised to protect, and he has this huge soft spot for anything tiny and helpless. Bumblebee totally qualifies at this point, and all of Soundwave's instincts are screaming to just hold him and protect him. Other than that though, he's a fierce, badaft warrior who doesn't take scrap from anyone.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I edited this while sick, so if there are any typos, please excuse.

Knock Out heard the door to the medbay open and suppressed a groan. Who had the nerve to bother him now?

"Knock Out!" Megatron's voice echoed through the medbay.

Knock Out froze. Slag. "Uh, just one moment, Lord Megatron," he said, looking around the room. He had come back into his quarters after putting together a makeshift energon dispenser for the sparkling, and finding energon that was suited for his growing frame.

Bumblebee currently seemed unaware of the warlord in the other room, and was happily sucking at the energon while his tiny hands grasped at it and Knock Out's fingers.

He went over to a cabinet and opened it, sitting Bumblebee inside with a blanket and the energon. The scout made a whimpering noise as he realized he was being left alone, coolant threatening to fall from his optics already.

Knock out crouched down next to him, "Now listen here Bee," he said, his tone low so it wouldn't cary. "Megatron is here. You remember Megatron, don't you?"

Bumblebee just let out a small whirr.

"Well he's bad news Bumblebee. And he doesn't know that you're here. If he finds out, we're both going in the smelter, you understand?"

He knew the sparkling didn't, but he hoped that at least he would pick up some sense of urgency from his tone. "You need to stay here, and be quiet."

The scout didn't answer, but started sucking on the energon again.

"Knock Out!" Megatron roared from the other room.

Knock Out sighed, "Just, please be quiet." He tucked the blanket snugly around the sparkling and closed the cabinet. He doubted Megatron would come into his personal quarters, but in case he did, he really didn't want him finding Bumblebee.

He put on his most confident expression and strode out into the med bay. "Lord Megatron! To what do I owe this honor?" he asked.

"And what exactly were you doing that was so important that you made me wait before gracing me with your presence, Knock Out?"

"I was just buffing my finish, Lord Megatron," he said smoothly.

"And you feel this is more important than doing the research on the relic I told you to do?" Megatron asked, his voice dangerously calm, dripping with venom.

"Of course not, I was simply waiting for the computer to finish a scan," Knock Out explained, going over to the computer, and pretending to examine the readout.

"And what did this scan tell you?"

"Nothing of interest, I'm afraid. I can't seem to find any functional components in this device," he said, picking up the sparkling maker and twirling it around his fingers with an air of disinterest.

"Soundwave has reached the same conclusion," Megatron told him.

"He has?" Knock Out asked, feigning surprise.

"It seems that this is merely a ceremonial relic of the Autobots. Dispose of it, and return to your regular duties," Megatron told him.

"Yes, Lord Megatron, of course."

"And Knock Out?"

"Hmm?" Knock Out asked, looking up from the device.

"Never leave me waiting again, or you'll need more than a buffer to fix the damage I do."

Knock Out winced, "Of course, Lord Megatron. My apologies."

He waited a full minute to make sure Megatron wouldn't come back before he let himself relax. He tensed again just a moment later as he saw something fly down from the corner of the room.

"Laserbeak!" he let out a sigh of relief. "I forgot you were here."

She landed on the counter next to him, and gave the distinct impression of staring.

Knock Out shot her a sideways look, then went back into his room, heading straight for the cabinet where he had left the sparkling. He crouched down and opened the door. Inside he found Bumblebee sitting in the middle of the blanket clutching the energon closely. He looked up, and as soon as he saw Knock Out he held out his arms and buzzed hopefully.

Knock Out chuckled lightly. "Okay sweetspark, come here. It's ok. You're safe." He picked him up and wrapped the blanket around him. Bumblebee cuddled up against him as soon as he did. He reached out as Knock Out held the energon dispenser out to him again, grabbing it with tiny hands.

Knock Out sighed, rocking him gently as he walked around the room. "What am I going to do with you?" he asked, staring at the big , round, bright blue optics staring back up at him. He had never though of himself as becoming a creator. Breakdown had been the one to want sparklings someday, he hadn't. But holding him now, he couldn't deny that he wanted to keep him.

He knew better of course. He had entertained the idea, but when Megatron had come in, it brought him back to reality. He knew he couldn't keep him here. Megatron would find out, sooner or later. And when he did, well, he'd really rather not think about that.

"Any ideas Laserbeak?" he asked, walking past the minicon still perched on the counter.

Laserbeak chirped.

"Well that's helpful," Knock Out muttered. He watched the sparkling as he sucked on the energon dispenser. There was really only one thing he could think of: give him back to the Autobots.

That was not going to end well. Did the Autobots even have the resources to raise a sparkling? And what would happen to him if Megatron actually managed to destroy them, or found their base?

He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't hear the door open. He felt a tap on his shoulder and he jumped.

He spun around in time to see Laserbeak dock on Soundwave's chest. "Would you make some kind of noise when you walk?!" Knock Out demanded, rather indignantly.

Soundwave tilted his helm in what was clearly a glare.

"I need to lock that damned door," Knock Out muttered, bouncing Bumblebee in his arms again. "What do you want?"

"I have a solution," Soundwave played back a recording of Starscream.

Knock Out froze. "What kind of solution?" he asked, not sure just how much he trusted the other mech.

Soundwave brought up an image on his visor that looked a lot like the sparkling maker.

"You found it?" Knock Out asked after a moment.

Soundwave nodded once, text scrolling across his visor, much to quickly to read.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

If Soundwave had an expression, Knock Out was sure it would have been exasperated. "Reversible," a recording he didn't recognize said.

"It- it's reversible?" he asked, looking back down at the sparkling in his arms.

Soundwave nodded.

***

It took several hours of them working together to reassemble and modify the sparkling maker to the specifications Soundwave had found. "How do we know it'll work?" Knock Out asked, turning it over in his hand. He looked back at Bumblebee, who was playing with Laserbeak again on one of the medical berths.

Soundwave showed him the specifications again, indicating the modifications they had made matched perfectly. It wasn't particularly reassuring, considering he could even verify the source of the information he had found.

Knock Out fought down the urge to argue. It wouldn't do to have Soundwave see this as a weakness. The damned comm officer remembered everything. He reminded himself again that Bumblebee was an Autobot. And that there was no way he could keep him safe as a sparkling. The device would work. It would turn him back to normal and then everything could go back to the way it was. He made a point of not thinking about the fact that that meant they would be trying to kill each other again.

Knock Out startled as he heard a ground bridge open behind him. Soundwave stood in front of it, holding the modified sparkling maker, looking at him expectantly. "Oh, we're gonna do this now?"

Soundwave cocked his head.

"Right," Knock Out grimaced, walking over to the berth. "Come on Bee, time to go," he picked the sparkling, who let out a surprised whirr, but quickly settled comfortably in his arms.

Knock Out recognized the area when he stepped through the ground bridge as the place he had first found the sparkling maker. He carried Bumblebee a short distance away from the bridge. "I'm gonna miss you Bee," he admitted, when he was far enough that Soundwave wouldn't hear. He gave the scout a quick hug before setting him down on the ground, and walking back to Soundwave.

Bumblebee sat on the ground, looking small and confused. He reached back out towards Knock Out with a small buzz.

"It's ok, Bee. This won't hurt. You'll be back to normal in a minute," he knew the sparkling couldn't understand him, but Knock Out couldn't help himself.

"You're sure- this is going to work?" Knock Out asked again, amending the question from what he really wanted to ask.

Soundwave brought up the schematics on his visor again.

Knock Out sighed waving his hand at him, "All right I get it. Just do it then."

He watched Bumblebee as Soundwave activated the device. A blinding light filled his vision and he shielded his optics. When it faded, he looked back to see Bumblebee sitting on the ground. A full grown Bumblebee.

Bumblebee reset his optics from the bright flash of light to see Knock Out and Soundwave staring at him.

Where had Soundwave come from? He realized he was sitting on the ground and immediately jumped to his feet, bringing his blaster online as he aimed for the Decepticons.

"Take it easy, Bee, we're not looking to fight," Knock Out said.

::Than hand over the relic:: Bee told him, noticing the device in Soundwave's hand.

"That's... not going to happen," Knock Out said, as something flew out of the groundbridge behind them.

Bumblebee jumped out of the way of the anticipated blaster fire as he recognized Laserbeak, but nothing happened. He looked up just in time to see the drone fly back through the groundbridge before it closed, Knock Out and Soundwave already gone.

::Scrap.::

Another groundbridge opened a second later. Optimus, Arcee, and Bulkhead came through, weapons ready. "Bumblebee, are you all right?" Optimus asked.

::Yeah, I'm fine. Knock Out and Soundwave got the relic though.::

"Bee, where have you been? What happened?" Bulkhead asked.

::What do you mean?::

"You were gone for hours Bee," Arcee told him. "We were afraid you'd been captured."

::I... was?::

"You do not remember?" Optimus asked, concerned.

Bumblebee shook his head. ::When I got here, Knock Out already had the relic. He fired it at me, then there was a bright flash of light, and then Soundwave was here too.::

"You'd better have Ratchet take a look at you," Bulkhead said. "Sounds like whatever it was fried some of your memory circuits.

Bee nodded as he followed the others back through the groundbridge.


	4. Epilogue

It was months later. The war was over, and they were all back on Cybertron, working on rebuilding their home world.

Bumblebee picked up a cube of energon from the dispenser and looked around the room. He was about to go join Bulkhead when he noticed Knock Out sitting by himself looking over a datapad. Curiosity finally got the better of him, and he went over to join the former Decepticon.

Knock Out looked up as he sat up, looking mildly surprised to see him. "Bumblebee," he said in a tone somewhere between a statement and a question.

"Knock Out."

Neither said anything else for a moment as Bee sipped his energon. Knock Out watched him for a moment before going back to his datapad.

"That time on Earth," Bee said suddenly, "with the relic."

"Which relic?" Knock Out asked, not looking up from the datapad. "There were a lot of relics."

Bumblebee looked at him for a moment, trying to figure out if he could even believe whatever the other told him.

"The one that we never found, Knock Out." They had retrieved all the relics after Megatron had been defeated, all except one, it was one Megatron had never tried to use against them. At the time, the Autobots had come to believe that whatever had been inside the container had been of no use to the decepticons, like the forge of Solace Prime (until Megatron had figured out a way around that of course). But there had been no other Autobot relics found on board the Nemesis.

"Oh that? I told you, that was some useless Autobot ceremonial tool. Megatron destroyed it."

"If it was so useless, than why was I gone for eight hours that I can't remember?"

Knock Out grinned at him, "Well Bee, what you do in your spare time is certainly none of my business."

"Knock Out!"

"Lovely chatting with you Bee, but I gotta go. Work to do," he said, holding up the datapad as he headed for the door.

Bumblebee watched him go, then sighed.

***

It had been a long day. Bumblebee had completely forgotten about about his conversation with Knock Out by the time he got back to his quarters that night.

As he keyed open the door, he noticed something fall to the ground. He bent down, picking up the folded paper.

Bumblebee stared at the image, and his mouth dropped open. He reset his optics three times, but the picture didn't change.

It was a photo of him, as a sparkling. But he was being held by Knock Out? That wasn't- Was that taken on the Nemesis? Bumblebees optics went even wider, if that was possible, as he recognized the Nemesis med bay. This couldn't be real.

There was a note written at the bottom of the photo, 'You do make an adorable sparkling.'

Bumblebee stared at the photo for another minute, before looking around the empty hall. He quickly went inside his room, tucking the photo in his subspace.

Ok, this was not something he was ever going to discus. Ever.


End file.
